Biker indicted on charges from 2015 Twin Peaks shooting asks for new attorney (Waco)

[Elderberry]

KXXV By Kendall Green 8/13/2018

WACO, TX (KXXV) -

A biker who was indicted on murder charges over the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout asked for a new lawyer on Monday.

Tom Mendez, a defendant, told court officials that he would like to change his lawyer in the Twin Peaks trial.

The judge and the prosecuting lawyers were not happy about these developments, however, after they presented more evidence against Mendez he said it had to be done.

The judge has authorized that another attorney is added to the defense, but will not withdraw the sitting attorney from the trial.

More: http://www.kxxv.com/story/38876693/biker-indicted-on-charges-from-2015-twin-peaks-shooting-asks-for-new-attorney

[Elderberry]

Judge grants defense request to postpone Twin Peaks trial

https://www.wacotrib.com/news/judge-grants-defense-request-to-postpone-twin-peaks-trial/article_df4a495e-4eef-5079-ab05-0dff069526c0.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

A judge granted a defense request Thursday to postpone the next Twin Peaks trial, bumping a priority setting for the trial of former Baylor University defensive end Shawn Oakman. 

Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court reluctantly granted the motion from attorneys for biker Tom Modesto Mendez, who said they could not be ready to try the case by the scheduled Aug. 27 trial date.

Mendez, the Bandidos San Antonio chapter president, is charged with riot, a first-degree felony, in the May 2015 biker brawl at Twin Peaks that left nine dead and 20 injured.

---Strother, who said he was trying to be fair to both sides, said a jury panel of 600 potential jurors for Mendez's case will come in Friday to fill out juror questionnaires and to be given instructions from the court.

Strother excused Metzger from Friday's court appearance after Metzger said his 98-year-old grandmother is "on her death bed."

Moving Mendez's trial to Sept. 10 knocked Oakman's sexual assault trial from its scheduled slot. Moody said he and Oakman's attorney, Alan Bennett, will confer soon and find another trial setting.

[Elderberry]

Mendez panel ready to ‘speak truth’ on Sept. 10

http://radiolegendary.com/2018/08/mendez-panel-ready-to-speak-truth-on-sept-10/

LAWYERS REVEAL PLANS TO APPEAL MOTION TO QUASH ‘SUPERSEDING’ INDICTMENTS IF IT IS DENIED IN HIGHEST COURT

Waco – Speaking in well-modulated tones, 19th Criminal District Judge Ralph T. Strother prepared a special panel of 600 veniremen to answer “voir dire” questioning in the 1st degree felony “riot” case against Twin Peaks defendant Tom Mendez.

Though court officials anticipated a motion for the judge’s recusal and cautioned media not to make any mention of their suppositions based on requests by defense counsel Jaime Pena for documentation of previous motions, the judge questioned nearly 100 who sought to prove their exemption in private, granting only a few the privilege to skip out on the case.

By day’s end, he was still on the bench. Filing a motion for recusal would have dictated a halt to the jury selection process, then and there.

He ordered the venire to report at 10 a.m. on Sept. 10 to be subjected to “probing, penetrating, personal questions” regarding their attitudes and beliefs about the law, the facts of the case they may already know, and their overall fitness to serve as jurors.

If convicted, Mendez will face not less than five years nor more than 99 behind penitentiary bars, or the possibility of a life sentence if jurors find the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that each element of the indictment is true.

Judge Strother cautioned the veniremen that anything less than complete proof of all elements of the charge entitles a defendant to a not guilty verdict.

A provision of the section on disorderly conduct, “riot” is a Class B misdemeanor, unless prosecutors have stipulated their intention to prove that an actor failed to leave the assembly when riot conditions developed, and that the result of the conduct of seven or more persons resulted in the commission of first degree felony, or lesser degrees of offenses.

He further cautioned them that the burden of proof is on the state, that a defendant’s failure to testify is nothing to hold against him, and that there is no reason for the accused to seek to prove anything – anything at all. “No one is required to prove their innocence.”